THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508090188
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Vanee Vines
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
The School Board met in Smithfield last week for its annual summer retreat. Among the issues discussed were:
Alternative education
The board urged Superintendent Joyce H. Trump to organize a group of teachers, administrators, citizens and city leaders who would size up the district's alternative education programs and study some of the best ones in other areas.
Trump, who embraced the idea, said the group also would look at the cost of current programs and any new ones. It will report its findings to the board by the middle of the upcoming school year, she said.
The Rev. Mark Croston, board vice chairman, said the administration should review its alternative ed programs with an eye toward improving them, ``not necessarily creating new ones.''
In recent years, some school activists have called for the creation of Suffolk's own alternative school for students with serious academic or behavioral problems. Administrators have talked about converting Florence Bowser Elementary into such a place, but rapidly growing enrollment at the elementary level may prevent the switch.
The district now provides an alternative program for troubled students at night; the Education for Success Program, for students who have flunked repeatedly; and a host of vocational courses for students turned off by traditional classroom offerings.
Spotlight: Middle schools
Trump said the administration would focus on middle schools in 1995-96 to find out whether - or to what extent - the district needs to beef up its efforts among the so-called 'tweenagers. Suffolk was one of the first districts in Virginia to create middle schools for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.
In the past decade, education reformers criticized traditional junior high schools because most of them focused on athletics or inappropriately viewed their students as ``little adults.''
Trump said the administration would review disciplinary, academic and attendance records among middle school students to get a better handle on how they're faring.
The state's latest report card - from the 1993-94 school year - pointed out several problems: Fifteen percent of Suffolk's eighth-graders had flunked at least one grade. Forty-one percent of all middle school students had missed more than 10 days of school.
Grading the educators
The administration soon will review the way it evaluates teachers, principals, assistant principals, central office staffers and even the superintendent.
Board member William L. Whitley, who spoke at length about a need to more closely monitor teachers and better evaluate their classroom performance, encouraged Trump to take a hard look at the district's evaluation tools. The goal is to make sure all educators are held to high standards. Trump acknowledged that some of the performance areas measured are described too generally on several evaluation forms.
The board's annual evaluation of the superintendent customarily has been an oral one, held behind closed doors. In those sessions, the board typically discusses how well the superintendent and administrative staff met the board's goals for a given school year. Board member Clarice C. Johnson said a more formal evaluation of the superintendent might be useful.
Bricks and mortar
The board decided to meet at 6 p.m. next Tuesday in City Council chambers to further discuss its capital improvement plan and the results of a demographic study projecting growth patterns.
So far, the council has approved 1995-96 funding for a new elementary school in the city's northern end ($6 million); an air conditioning study ($291,000); roof replacements at Kilby Shores, Elephant's Fork and Nansemond Parkway elementary schools ($1.4 million); sewage connections at John Yeates Middle and Driver Elementary ($350,000); and an architectural and engineering study for renovation work at Oakland Elementary ($428,000).
The board now seeks City Council approval of phase II of the plan, which earmarks another $4.3 million in 1995-96 to add air conditioning systems to six elementary and all three middle schools and pay for a bigger gymnasium at the new elementary school - an addition city leaders believe will encourage wider use of schools by residents.
The council will approve the second phase of Suffolk's CIP this fall.
For the upcoming school year, the district will use 81 mobile classrooms, primarily to house a growing number of elementary kids and to help shrink class size in the primary grades. Five of the mobile classes are for the new Early Start preschool program.
The capital improvement plan, which covers 1995-96 through the year 2000, calls for the construction of another elementary school in the 1997-98 fiscal year. by CNB